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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26263891">what dreams are made of</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/londer/pseuds/londer'>londer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dimension 20 (Web Series), The Unsleeping City</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Campaign 03: The Unsleeping City, F/M, Fluff, Kingston's ambiguous vox populi powers, M/M, Mild Sex Jokes, Multi, TUC Prompt Meme, being hot to the point of inconvenience</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:40:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,301</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26263891</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/londer/pseuds/londer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"I saw a man so beautiful I started crying"</p><p>Or, Ricky Matsui is an absolute snack and everyone wants a slice, much to Esther and Pete's exasperation.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ricky Matsui/Pete the Plug/Esther Sinclair</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>157</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Dimension 20's The Unsleeping City Prompt Meme</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/HorribleThing/gifts">HorribleThing</a>.</li>



        <li>In response to a prompt by
            Anonymous in the <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TUC_Prompt_Meme">TUC_Prompt_Meme</a>
          collection.
        </li>
    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>
  <strong>Prompt:</strong>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"I saw a man so beautiful I started crying"</p><p>Or </p><p>Different people react to the hottest, luckiest man in New York. Those different people sure are thirsty.</p><p>(Ricky continues to be pretty oblivious.)</p><p>// this was fun :) beefy boi gets hit on a lot and pete and esther are desperately trying to keep up</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Aw, man," Ricky says, looking at the giant glob of melting ice cream that's dripping down the front of his shirt. </p><p>"Just take it off," Pete says. It's a scorching hot day in the middle of July in Central Park; it'll be fine.</p><p>Esther's head whips around from where she's walking in front of them, but her warning comes too late. Ricky's shirt is already up and over his head and there's the screech of horns from the road as drivers nearly avoid a pileup of cars as they slow and stop to gawk at the miles of golden skin and rippling muscle. </p><p>Pete's phone pings, a text from Kingston that just reads <em> why did you let him go shirtless in public </em>. Poor guy's too attuned to the vibe of the city and probably felt it when like a hundred people suddenly laid eyes on Ricky's 20-pack. </p><p><em> Sry, fixing now? </em> Pete replies. "Uh, maybe don't take it off?" He says to Ricky. </p><p>"Why?" Ricky asks. He's licking ice cream off his hand from where it's still dripping on him which is one hundred and ten percent not helping the situation. </p><p>"<em> Ricky </em>," Esther says. She hands him some napkins from her purse.</p><p>He looks at her blankly, and then looks around at the people staring at them. "Oh. Oops." The shirt goes back over his head and he wipes off his hand with the napkins like a normal person. </p><p>Pete can almost hear the sigh of disappointment from the crowd of onlookers. There are gonna be some real good entries into the twitter hashtag tonight. </p>
<hr/><p>"Is he yours?" A wizened old black woman is standing next to Esther in the produce aisle. She points to where Ricky's a few stations down intently comparing squash. </p><p>"Um. Yes?" </p><p>She nods sagely, giving him a once-over. "Lucky you, girlie." </p><p>"Yeah, uh, thanks." </p>
<hr/><p>There's a guy a little ways down in the subway car who won't stop staring at them, and it's starting to get on Esther's nerves. He looks a little shocked but like, come on buddy, this is New York. There are weirder sights than three people holding hands on a train. She sticks her hand in Pete's back pocket and kisses Ricky to make a point. </p><p>They have to go past him when they get to their stop, and he continues to watch them. Esther gives him some major side-eye but he doesn't seem to notice because it turns out he's <em> really </em> looking at Ricky. </p><p>"Am I bisexual?" She hears him whisper to himself as she exits onto the platform. Poor guy. Ricky has that effect on people sometimes. </p>
<hr/><p>"Ricky, I love you, but if you walk out of this house in grey sweatpants someone is going to get seriously hurt," Pete says. </p><p>"It's me," Esther says. "I'm going to get hurt when I try to save you from the mobs of people who want your dick." </p>
<hr/><p>"I think we need to make a game plan for Pride," Esther says to Pete over breakfast. Ricky's on a weird night schedule this week and it sucks not getting to fall asleep with him or see him in the mornings. </p><p>"That's very smart," Pete says. He drinks the milk out of the end of the bowl of cereal because he's not a coward. Esther loves that about him. "Something that says 'I'm taken' but also 'No, you can't watch'." </p><p>"He probably needs to wear a shirt of some kind," Esther says. "God, New Yorkers are so <em> horny </em>. What if we got him a dance belt?"</p><p>"Mmm, make him look like a Ken doll," Pete nods. Esther makes a face of confusion and they both laugh at the nonsense of it all. "Is he going to be on the NYFD float?" </p><p>"I think Kingston made him say no."</p><p>"Poor guy probably knows better," Pete says, blows a kiss at the ceiling like it'll reach Kingston that way. "Pride's gotta be shit on the Vox Populi city mind meld thing." </p><p>"Are you worried about Phantasma things coming up at Pride?" </p><p>"Nah, probably not. I think it'll be a good feedback loop of like joy and dreams feeding the cycle of magic, though." </p><p>"That'll be useful at least," Esther stirs her coffee thoughtfully. "Give us an extra boost when we have to defend his honor from the twinks." </p>
<hr/><p>Sofie twists her ankle when her heel breaks on a night out and Ricky offers to carry her, which she immediately accepts. She makes a big fuss about getting to feel up his arms and pecs as he princess-carries her through crowded sidewalks that part like water for the two of them. </p><p>"If you weren't our friend we'd hex you!" Pete calls cheerfully to her as he and Esther walk tucked together behind them. </p><p>"Worth it!" Sofie yells back. </p>
<hr/><p>There's a sobbing girl clinging to Ricky's chest in the middle of the coffee shop like she's in some kind of romance novel, jeez. He's patting her back gently and trying to move them so that they aren't blocking the middle of the room.</p><p>"Oh not again," Pete says, getting up from the corner booth he and Esther claimed while Ricky went to grab their drinks and going over to assist. He takes the tray from Ricky, maneuvering carefully to give him a quick kiss because like, hello, lady, that's his boyfriend there. Pete returns to Esther and carefully sets the coffee between the piles of notes and open laptops they're working on. "We're sure he's not jinked, right? There's no magic that can make people look at him and start crying?" </p><p>"I checked," Esther says despairingly, taking her latte and sipping at it. They watch as Ricky carefully extricates himself from the girl's grasp and pats her shoulder before beelining over to them. "But also, look within yourself Pete. You would cry too if you didn't get to date him." </p><p>"I did cry," Pete says. "And you cried as much as you could under an emotions curse." He smiles up at Ricky who sits beside him and leans his head on Pete's shoulder. "That's the third one this week, babe."</p><p>"Yeah," Ricky says. "Next year's calendar just came out, remember?" </p><p>Pete <em> remembers </em> all right. Pete <em> remembered </em>repeatedly, despite the fact that he gets to just like, have sex with Ricky when he wants to. He nearly wild magic surges thinking about it right then and there. He bought three copies, one to hang on the wall of their apartment, one to cut Ricky out of and tuck in his wallet, and one to keep in the plastic as like a family heirloom. </p><p>"Haha, oh yeah, I forgot about that," Esther says, like a liar. They don't text each other outside of their main group chat often, but the Pete-Esther thread had been pretty busy on the release day. </p><p>She and Pete give each other a Look, but Ricky just nods. "Yeah, it's really great how well people responded to it this year. We've already broken all our stretch goals for the children's hospital! It's really cool to be a part of something so impactful." </p><p><em> Impactful </em>, Esther mouths at Pete. </p><p><em> Shut up! </em> Pete mouths back at her. Her face scrunches with a suppressed giggle before she returns to her work.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>hm anyways esther and pete are also hot</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The Gramercy Occult Society is hosting their annual conference for all the different chantries to come together. Esther's been really busy organizing it, and Ricky's doing his best to support her but he also knows he's way out of his depth, so mostly he just keeps Pete distracted so that they don't bother her too much. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first night is the opening reception, and the headquarters is bedecked in teal and gold, with a set of enchanted instruments playing in a quartet of their own accord in one corner. Esther's in this beautiful floor-length red dress that shimmers as she moves and she had stuffed Ricky into a suit. (Pete had wild magic surged when he saw them both and decided to stay at home with a cold compress on his forehead. Which is sad, because Ricky loves showing Pete off and he had looked </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> good in his suit.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He lost Esther at some point to a group of witches, and had gone over to talk to Ana and Amelia instead. They've both gone off to join some of their other cousins who are Society members now, though, so Ricky's looking for Esther again, dodging between well-dressed people and waiters and the fine webs of magic that people are delicately casting in some places. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Esther's talking to this ripped guy with a beard who's casting a little globe of something blue and glowy between them. She's listening intently while he talks and the guy has one hand on her bare arm and Ricky's got a feeling in his gut he doesn't like. Esther's really beautiful and </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> smart. He's not </span>
  <em>
    <span>insecure</span>
  </em>
  <span> per se, but she's Esther, a flawless wizard, and he's kind of a dumb jock and it sucks to see her getting hit on by someone who's at least closer to her intelligence level. (This guy probably doesn't match her though, Esther's the smartest fucking person in the Society, so at least there's that.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ricky walks up behind Esther and pulls her up against him with an arm around her waist. "Hey, you," he says, and she squeaks but then looks up at him with her pretty smile. He's not usually a petty person, but some of Pete's possessive tendencies must be starting to wear off on him because he kisses her a little more fully than is perhaps appropriate for interrupting a conversation. Ricky smiles at the guy with all his teeth and offers a hand. "Hi. Ricky Matsui." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Greg," the guy says. His magic globe is gone and Ricky's pleased to note that he's both taller and more ripped than Greg. "Uh, nice seeing you again Esther." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You too," Eshter says. Greg leaves quickly and Esther turns so she's facing Ricky in his arms. She's smiling, a little smugly. "What was</span>
  <em>
    <span> that</span>
  </em>
  <span> all about?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What was what all about?" Ricky asks. He kisses her again. "Don't open Pete's texts until later, he sent suit nudes."</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>"Are you single?" The girl asks Pete, batting her eyelashes and ignoring Ricky.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He's literally holding hands with his boyfriend right now," Ricky says incredulously. He picks Pete up and walks away. Straight people, </span>
  <em>
    <span>honestly</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Pete's getting into running with Ricky which is super awesome and fun. More time spent with Pete is great, even when Pete complains about his calves and especially when Pete wears teeny booty shorts and when he grabs onto Ricky's arm for balance and leans in for a kiss while he stretches.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It's early on Saturday when they leave for a morning run. Esther grumbled a little when they left their bed, but she had simply tugged all the blankets around herself and gone back to sleep. It's still early when they get back, the day still grey and new. Ricky's thinking about making pancakes because Pete just PR'd his 5k and it'll be fun to surprise Esther with breakfast in bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm going to stretch out here a little," Pete says when they arrive at their front steps. He's shirtless, his lean muscles are covered in a fine sheen of sweat, and he's a little flushed and breathing heavily. He looks very, very good. Possibly the pancakes are going to be a late morning project. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay," Ricky says, kisses him before going upstairs to grab them some waters and roll out his leg muscles. He finishes his cooldown routine and Pete's still not up, so he goes down to investigate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He finds Pete standing with one foot propped on the front steps talking to a group of women who are all standing very close to him and clearly checking him out. It's the young moms and the young moms' friends running club from around the neighborhood, and they're all very pretty and married to boring mediocre looking investment bankers and one of them is trying to get Pete to flex his arm so she can feel it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They're going to have to change their running times </span>
  <em>
    <span>again</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ricky drops down the front steps again and shoulders his way back beside Pete, slipping an arm around his shoulders to pull him to his chest again. "Hi, everyone." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>Ricky</span>
  </em>
  <span>," Emma says. She's the only one of this little pack that he knows the name of, and she's Ricky's personal nemesis. "We were just asking Peter here why you two don't come running with us? Working out in a group is just so much more </span>
  <em>
    <span>fun</span>
  </em>
  <span>." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We have terrible schedules," Ricky says. "Always changing. Never any time to consistently commit to something as organized as what you all have going on." He smiles hollowly at them, and lets the hand that's wrapped around Pete drag over his chest possessively. He can feel Pete's heartbeat still pounding away in his chest, but he's pretty sure that's not got a lot to do with the run they just went on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Uh, yeah," Pete says. "Sorry. Bye." Ricky's already walking him up the steps, and he waves awkwardly behind them at the moms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Let's go shower," Ricky says when the door is closed and locked behind them, right against the shell of Pete's ear. </span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ricky's not a very good dancer, but he is good at glaring down people who try to dance up on Pete and Esther while they're at clubs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you, like, their bodyguard?" A very drunk person asks Ricky one night while he's standing on the edge of the teeming crowd, waving a shot glass at where Pete and Esther are grinding on the dance floor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Boyfriend," he says. They nod solemnly and approvingly, and give him a high-five. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>you can find me on tumblr <a href="https://myclericalromance.tumblr.com">here</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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